Posts by Russell Brown
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Question: how many of you here are Usenet veterans, and is that where you learned your culture of internet argument?
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Not for the first time, I have to say big props to Ben for that comment. But I’d also say that PAS in the past has sustained very long and perfectly civil conversations in spite of sharp disagreement – on The Hobbit vs. The Unions, for instance.
That was kind of a triumph given what was going on in some other forums.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,
, whereas at PAS the general tendency is for a dissenting voice to get absolutely buried with abuse. Once again, not a huge issue for me until people accuse me of being a dick when I respond to it.
As I said upthread, if you were arguing in good faith, then I'm sorry for suggesting otherwise. But people do seem to detect an underlying sneer in your comments, which influences their reactions.
But, come on: you have not been "buried with abuse", and certainly not in the way that either of us have at Kiwiblog. I've endured some really explicit nastiness there, as have the likes of Craig. Nothing of the kind has befallen you here.
FWIW, I thought one of things I did wrong when I used to comment at Kiwiblog was in slagging off or mocking the site/community itself. I realised I was basically trolling, and resolved to only get involved when I genuinely had something to contribute. Which these days ain't very often.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to BenWilson,
So to disagree involves a lot more preparation and care, and in many cases that just means it never happens, it’s too hard, and I don’t have the time.
The way I see it is that I can have a raging argument with Craig or Gio without losing sight of the fact that we're friends. It's just a discussion thread, there'll be another one tomorrow.
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Hard News: Fridays are still for the music, in reply to Karen Crisp,
Shayne P Carter is playing old stuff at the King's Arms mid-May. Looking forward to it already. 'Big Fat Elvis' anyone?
If it's anything like what he played at the Stroke launch gig, it will be awesome.
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I need to stop adding to the post, so I'll put this one in comments.
From Bandcamp, Japan's Dirty Androids. Filthy electro-house FTW.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Danielle,
Because we’re so inherently caring and nurturing, of course.
Nah. Because you're all bitchy and cliquish and that sort of turns me on.
Oops. I just made myself lol.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Danielle,
FWIW, PAS is a much “safer” place for women to post than Kiwiblog, and obviously that counts for something pretty significant in my book.
That's always been a keynote for me. You get a better environment when you pay attention to the women.
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Hard News: Perverse Entertainment, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
You’re free to say and think what ever you want of course, but don’t try and put across the idea that you’re some kind of white knight of objective commentary.
You know, Craig, I've never thought of you as that ... ;-)
Good job, really. It sounds like a terribly dull thing to be.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,
One last point: a couple of commentators have pointed out that Russell is some kind of rara avis because he can think critically even though he has not been to university! The obvious reply to this is that almost everyone in our society who is intelligent and intellectually curious can go to university, so he’s rare in that respect, not in that he’s somehow, amazingly, stumbled onto the ability to think for himself despite not having attained an undergraduate degree.
I suppose the unusual thing is the extent to which I flock with people who have studied. The spontaneous expressions of fraternal support that happen whenever someone mentions that they're struggling with their PhD thesis here can be quite amusing.